NLIHC and NHLP Urge Treasury, HUD, USDA, and FHFA to Implement Eviction Moratorium Directive

NLIHC and the National Housing Law Project (NHLP) sent on August 10 a letter to the secretaries of HUD, US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Treasury, as well as the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), urging them to implement the Biden administration’s July 29 directive calling for the agencies “to extend their respective eviction moratoria through the end of September” and “to do everything in their power so that owners and operators of federally assisted and financed rental housing seek Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA)…before moving toward eviction.”

To adhere to this directive, NLIHC and NHLP calls on the departments to require housing authorities and federally assisted property owners to apply for ERA before filing an eviction for non-payment of rent. The letter also asks FHFA to wield its authority to institute a moratorium or other eviction prevention requirements on properties with federally backed mortgages or multifamily loans.

The new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction moratorium for renters living in areas with substantial or high transmission rates of COVID-19 (see Memo, 8/9) has provided millions of households currently behind on rent a much-needed lifeline. Legal challenges from landlords and realtors, however, pose a significant threat to the new moratorium. If these challenges are successful, millions of renters will be at risk of losing their homes – and with them, their ability to keep themselves and their families safe from the growing threat of the Delta COVID-19 variant. The threat of the courts overturning the national moratorium makes it even more urgent for other federal departments to use their existing authorities to keep as many renters as possible safe from eviction.

Read the letter at: https://tinyurl.com/ua3pjtys